CARSON, Calif. -- While the rest of the soccer playing world was focused on the madness of the closing of the summer transfer window, the LA Galaxy were preparing for their game on Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Although the Galaxy's day was not without its own moments of intrigue, the Galaxy appear set for Saturday's clash against their Western Conference rivals. It appears likely that the Galaxy will have David Beckham available for selection as the midfielder has recovered from a stomach illness that troubled him during Sunday's victory over FC Dallas.
Below are Beckham's thoughts on his illness, transfer day and the perception of American players in Europe...
(On his health...)
BECKHAM: "I'm feeling a little bit better. I only just felt better over the last couple of days. I'm glad that's out of the way. I think it was just a bug that was running through the family. Romeo's got it now, but I'm better myself, thank goodness."
(On transfer day...)
BECKHAM: "To be honest, playing at Manchester United, we were never really aware of it. I was never part of a countdown so to speak, but it's always exciting. There is always a couple of panic buys right at the end and people trying to rush players through. It's exciting to watch, but I'm sure that it's not too exciting to be part of."
(On the perception of American players in Europe...)
BECKHAM: It's definitely changed in the past five to ten years. When you see a player like Dempsey doing well and scoring the goals that he has at Fulham and obviously when Landon went over to Everton, he did well. I think that people now in Europe take American players a lot more seriously then ten or 15 years ago. I'm not disrespecting that, but I think that the level has definitely gone up. It's due to a manager like Jurgen Klinsmann going into the US team with his experience and bringing young players through. I know that he's only been there a short time, but I think that he's done really well. When you've got young players coming through, people take notice. I spoke about it in the past about big European teams coming to the US and spending their preseasons because the level competes with some of the teams and gives them good physical training. It's definitely changed."
(On whether Europe looked down on American players in the past...)
BECKHAM: "We all knew ten or 15 years ago that soccer wasn't as popular as one of the big sports in the US and I think that's definitely changed. But now you have got big teams like Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid all coming over to the US and wanting to play against teams and looking at players over in the US. And you've got teams in Europe taking US guys...going over to Europe and doing well."
